The Fallen Idol (1948)

 Carol Reed's "The Fallen Idol"

Right after his grand success with 1947's "Odd Man Out," British director Carol Reed continued his late 1940s streak of great films with 1948's "The Fallen Idol." Written by Graham Greene, based on his own short story "The Basement Room" found in his 1947 collection "Nineteen Stories," the film centers on a child as he is confronted with the moral ambiguity surrounding the man he idolizes. 

The protagonist of the film, Philippe, is a small boy and the young song of the ambassador of a French-speaking European country. He lives parentless at the embassy with his butler and maid (both married to each other). He idolizes the butler, Baines, who tells him extravagant tall tales of his time in Africa and frequently plays with the boy. Baines' kindness is juxtaposed with Mrs. Baines, who is much harsher towards the boy. One day, the boy discovers that Baines is having a secret affair with a woman named Julie. When Mrs. Baines discovers this, she attempts to confront them, only for her to take a tumble to her death. When the police investigation begins, our young Philippe attempts to protect his idol Baines (whom the boy mistakenly believes murdered Mrs. Baines) by telling lies to the police. Eventually, the truth comes out. Not only to the police, but to Philippe as well, seeing Baines as a far more complicated and complex person than the idolized version he envisioned.  

The plot of the story basically inherently reveals its own plot to you. Essentially a coming-of-age story, the film deals in disillusionment. With all the moral complexities at play, our young protagonist must go from idealized certainty to a more complex understanding of the people around him, even if those people might not be the idealized version he imagines them to be. Even though Baines did not kill his wife, the lies and the secrecy are all revealed to Philippe, who must adjust his understanding of the adults and the world at large around him. 

Perhaps to unravel the film into an even broader thematic notion, one could argue that Baines represents Britain himself. Despite not being the actual killer of his wife and despite Britain not being the actual villain of World War II, there must come a recognition of the moral complexity that lies at the heart of the two. They both must be viewed through new lenses and not through the 'good and evil' lenses that would be seen through the eyes of a child. At the end of the day, the state of the Allies and the United Kingdom in general must be recognized as something more simplified that heroic and good. This might be a controversial statement, and I must iterate that the Allies were indisputably on the right side of history, I'm simply arguing for seeing these notions less black and white and more with hardened complexity.

All in all, I very much enjoyed the film and felt it was a great post-war psychological drama.